OMG, so much has happened since my last chapter. I apologize for the time it's taken for me to write this one! I don't know what's wrong with me because I have five stories I'm writing right now for the Avengers and I'm having serious writers block with EVERYTHING.

That being said, I had a lot of fun writing this one. Seriously ^^ I hope you enjoy!

Special thanks to all my reviewers for the last chapter!

Theweriterstory (Aw, that's too bad! Snowboarding is a lot of fun! I have so many stories from it…this is just the most dramatic one ^^ Thanks for the review!), CaptainAssmericaInTights (Thanks! I lived there for nine years and miss it terribly! The lake wasn't Donner, I actually looked it up because I had forgotten and I was completely wrong, lol, but I blame my brother because he told me the lake wasn't lake Tahoe and it totally was. The resort was super small, not like NorthStar and what have you. I totally know the place you thought it was though! I went by it all the time on the way to my boarding school! Never snowboarded there, but I wanted to try night skiing there!), gammawidow67 (Your wish is my command! ^^), Anna (Awww, I'm glad you loved it! I was worried because the snow thing with Steve is a bit over played, but I'm really glad you liked it and I hope it was unique enough! Thanks Anna! You rock!), Ms. Perception (lol, I love snowboarding, but yeah, that was a scary experience. In a strangely fun 'I'm about to die' way. I'm kind of used to it…lol, I'm glad you liked it!), lunavenger (Yay! Thanks for the review!), Qweb (There should be more stories with Tony and Clint getting Steve into trouble, hehe, glad you liked it!), jaguarspot (lol, I wasn't actually planning on doing Fury ^^ But who knows, some time I might get inspired! Thanks for the ideas! And I'm glad you liked my descriptions! I lived in Reno for a bit, so that helped.), discordchick (I love Clint/Steve both friendship and…well, but not a lot of people write them, which is sad! The more fics the better! Glad you liked! AND since you and I talk about this sometimes. Hawkeye is getting a bigger role in the next Avengers! TOLD YA! ^^), UnaMariah 1999 (Aw thanks! I always am super happy when people like my characterizations! Thanks!), Sandy-wmd (lol, glad you enjoyed it!), sammygirl1963 (Awww, I'm glad you liked that part ^^), kimbee (I remember my board skimming a rock and hitting a very small pine tree, lol. And the drop off. It's all very clear in my mind. My cousin and me had to make our own way down though! I'm glad you liked my tale~I thought Steve was going to be difficult to write, but it actually was a lot of fun!), Candy Cartwright (Sorry my update took so long! I hope you enjoy it though! I'm glad you liked the stories so far!), weemcg33 (Aw! I've only semi-fainted. I was working and cleaning with this spray stuff and yeah, this lady asked me a question and my eyes started bursting with black fireworks. My supervisor asked if I was pregnant, lol, I wasn't. Good times. ^^ I hope you've avoided fainting since! ^^)

Clearly I should avoid drinking a lot of coffee before responding to you all…but I missed you guys and responding is a highlight of posting a new chapter! On to the story!

Bruce

The day had started off with such promise. The team had eaten breakfast together. The sun had been shinning. Birds chirping. So yeah, of course it couldn't and didn't last. When did nice things ever last for the Avengers? On a deeper note, when did nice things ever last for Bruce Banner?

The world was spinny now. Was spinny a word? Bruce had several doctorates and the answer still eluded him. It should be a word, Banner decided with a hum. Spinny described everything Bruce currently felt. Banner shook his head and tried to focus. When did focusing become so difficult?

Earlier Bruce and Tony had been arguing about stuff, but it was impossible to recall what argument had been over. Seemed trivial now. That had been after breakfast. Or had it been before? Everything was pretty blurred, like a watercolor painting after someone mean dumped a cup of water on it. Like Bobby Fisher had in the second grade. Wow, that seemed over dramatically descriptive. Bruce frowned and leaned heavily against Clint who was pretty much carrying Bruce along. Where were they going?

Vaguely Bruce knew that he and Clint were in trouble. Clint and him, Clint and – whatever. Something. Something was after them. No, not something, someone was after the Hulk. Not Hulk, but Bruce. Because Bruce was Hulk. Sometimes it really sucked being Bruce Banner. It sucked most of the time, actually.

"Do you know what you were hit with?" Clint asked. It was like his voice was floating on a calm wave. Or was it more like Bruce was floating and Clint's voice was drifting through a storm? Bruce blinked and stared at Clint's frowning lips. Apparently Clint hadn't shaved that morning. Oh and yeah, Clint had asked Bruce a question.

"Um," Bruce mumbled. "Dunno. Hulk's quiet." Suddenly the scientist grinned. "You need some chapstick. Or water."

The frown increased and the cracks in the lips spread apart. "Ew," Bruce contorted his face at Clint and raised his eyes up to meet the archer's.

"Bruce," Clint chuckled softly. "You're stoned. So totally stoned."

"Wha?" Bruce pushed at Clint and almost fell face first towards the ground. Clint caught him and resituated them so Bruce's danger of falling was limited. "But Clint, I don't do drugs." Bruce insisted. He frowned abruptly and his face suddenly lit up. "Oh, unless the drug they injected me with made me stone. Stoned."

Clint smiled a lopsided smile that if Bruce were a little more with it might have been slightly offensive.

Bruce frowned further and stopped shuffling his feet along side Clint.

"Come on," Clint coaxed soothingly. "We need to find somewhere safe."

Somewhere safe. Yes, Bruce nodded. "With chapstick." The scientist added with a sloppy grin.

"Hang in there, Bruce." Clint chuckled lightly as they trudged onward.

It was kind of peaceful for a while. It felt like forever had passed them by as they shuffled down a less then clean alleyway. The air smelt like smoke. "Are we having a bonfire?" Bruce asked after a moment.

Clint shook his head. "Nope."

"Oh." Bruce felt disappointed. "I like bonfires." He slumped a little further in Clint's grip. "Marshmallows." Bruce mumbled, although he'd forgotten where he was going with the word. There was probably going to be a sentence after 'marshmallows' but, well, oh well.

An explosion made both the scientist and the assassin jump. Or maybe the ground was shaking them. Bruce shook his head and looked at Clint again. The archer was pale and profiled as he looked at something else.

Clint shuffled them towards the side of the alleyway and lowered Bruce down to sit.

The ground shook again.

"Shit, shit." Clint muttered to himself and Bruce frowned again.

"The ground's angry." Bruce slurred, which made Clint look concerned again. Maybe Bruce should stop pointing out the obvious.

"Sit tight, Bruce, hopefully they don't – shit." Clint looked up and froze. "Okay, new plan. Stay there." He drew an arrow from his quiver. Apparently, Bruce realized, they were in the middle of a battle. That didn't make sense though. Where was the Hulk? Oh, he was the Hulk, obviously, but Hulk was missing. Obviously. What?

"K," Bruce agreed, boneless against the wall behind him. He had a perfect view of Clint and glanced in the direction the archer was looking. Well shit. That guy didn't look nice. In fact he kind of looked like he was dressed in Tony's Ironman suit, but, not. This suit-robot was much, much bigger and far less pretty. Bruce kind of hoped he didn't say that last part out loud. Tony's head was big enough already.

Clint let an arrow go and the thing roared after the sharp projectile pinged off the things metal chest. It charged and Clint cursed. Bruce kind of wished he wasn't so tired. He should help Clint. Clint was helping him. That guy looked really mean. Like Bobby Fisher from second grade.

Bruce watched through blurred eyes as Clint was charged by the Not-Tony. Dragged up into the air by his arm and tossed like a broken toy over the 'things' shoulder.

"That's not nice." Bruce mumbled to himself as he looked up at the Not-Tony with a frown. "Marshmallow." He grumbled as the thing reached it's thick metal hand out towards Bruce's prone figure.

Bruce blinked and he was gone. There was a loud sound of something striking something hard. Bruce thought it was magic. "Boom." He giggled and flopped his head to the side to glance down the alley to see if Clint had seen.

A shadow suddenly stood above Bruce. No, not a shadow, Bruce noted as he looked upward. Thor.

"Fear not, Doctor," Thor bellowed far to loudly. It hurt Bruce's ears. Bruce completely missed it when Thor swooped down and gathered him up in his masculine god-like arms. "I've got you."

Bruce was feeling many things at the moment, but he was fairly certain he wasn't afraid. Confused? Yes. Disappointed about the lack of bonfire? Yes. But fearful? Bruce was currently to high to be afraid.

"Um," Bruce felt like there was cotton stuck in his mouth as he tried to talk. Or maybe his tongue had been turned into cotton. Gross. "Clint." Bruce groaned, his eyes slid closed as he heard Thor start swinging his hammer round and round. "Don't let – Clint – eaten by Marshmallow."

With his concern voiced Bruce allowed what tension was left in his body to go completely limp and drifted away into oblivion.

The wakeup process after being drugged by an unknown substance is a less-than-pleasant experience to say the least. Bruce remembers vaguely the points where he had woken up just to vomit his guts out into a provided blue wastebasket he hoped never to see again.

It was miserable, but there had been a bright side. Several bright sides, really. He'd lived, so, that was always a good thing. His friends were around him, which was also very good. Whenever Bruce managed to steal a moment of consciousness they were with him saying soothing things. Or, Bruce assumed the words are aimed to be soothing, he never really understood what was being said.

When Bruce finally woke up and things are clear he breathed a sigh of pure relief. The drugged haze was thankfully gone, which was a much nicer over all compared to the last few encounters with wakefulness. With closed eyes Bruce decided to enjoy the moment of blissful peace. His stomach wasn't turning, his mind was clear and he was home. Life was good, or, at least better.

"Back to the land of the living, eh Banner?" Tony's voice came from the left of Bruce's bed. Okay, not quite home, but definitely in the towers infirmary. Close enough. Safe enough.

What was supposed to be a word, or possibly the start of a sentence ended in a croak.

Tony snickered, but retrieved a glass of water for Bruce to sooth his abused throat with. "Throwing up thirteen times will do that to a guy." Stark sighed as Bruce drank. "Do you want to sleep some more, or are you up to eating something? Or, try to eat something, at least."

"If it's toast." Bruce managed as he set the glass aside. "Maybe. Plain toast, Tony. Not your idea of plain."

"You are so boring." Tony rolled his eyes, but nodded. "You heard him, Jarvis. Plain toast. Nothing fun. Tell the kitchen police."

"Kitchen police?" Bruce inquired lightly and frowned. Bruce and Clint were really the only two that used the kitchen. Sometimes Natasha baked, but that was never a good thing. Steve or Clint then. Steve could cook, but he let the others take over most of the time.

It hit him then: Clint. Bruce's eyes widened and he sat up fast as his lips fumbled to form words.

"Bruce?" Tony seemed worried. Probably rightly so, Bruce felt like he was having a panic attack.

"Clint." Bruce managed. "He – the thing was – and then, I, I – is he alive? Hell, Tony."

Tony's eyes widened as he raised his hands in a 'calm down' motion. "Breathe, Bruce, Clint's fine. A bit bruised, but he's in better shape than you were the last few days."

"But that thing." Bruce breathed in deeply. "It threw him."

Tony nodded and sighed. "He had a dislocated arm and a few pulled tendons and such, but he's fine, Bruce. His arm is located now. Promise. I can tell Steve to grab him too, if you want. He's been working on a project though."

Bruce felt confused, but content. Clint was all right and everyone was apparently safe. Good stuff. "Okay. Wait, what project?"

Tony smirked. "Don't worry about it, I promise he isn't going to hurt his arm doing it, though."

Clint's project was revealed the next day when Bruce felt well enough to eat like a normal, starved human being.

"A bonfire?" Bruce asked with an awed expression as he eyed the roof of Stark Tower. Clint had gone to a lot of trouble to make things comfortable and apparently had moved half of the den up there. Different bits of pillows, blankets and furniture were positioned around a fire pit.

"We have marshmallows." Clint announced with a happy, yet slightly uncertain grin. It was rather endearing. Bruce noted that the archer still had his sling on, which was probably because it had been his shooting arm that had been injured. "It's just, you said you liked bonfires and – "

"It's perfect." Bruce smiled back; his words quickly freed Clint of any uncertainty and the archer visibly relaxed. "Thank you, Clint."

Clint grinned again and patted Bruce's arm with his good hand. "Not a problem."

"Okay," Tony gripped from the coach as he speared a marshmallow on the end of a metal pole. "Enough of the mushy-gushy stuff. More roasting!"

"Thor," Natasha commented calmly.

Thor frowned and glanced down at his marshmallow only to find it was on fire. "Blast!"

The group giggled and Bruce breathed a sigh of fresh air. For now they could enjoy a brief moment of peace. If they were lucky they could get through the night without the world falling apart again. Or Thor accidently setting the Tower on fire. Either way it was a nice way to start the night.

Thor is next, but I'm having a bit of trouble with it so…wish me luck! Also I'm writing a kid/fic and answering a few other prompts from kinkmeme. I have some serious writers block, so wish me luck getting over it! ^^

Miss you guys!

Also, do people prefer the comment/response section before the story or after the story? It got a little long...so I'm curious to know if it's better at the end rather than the beginning.

Reviews are loved!